DAY 6 MONDAY OCT 5 2015 MURGAB TO LANGAR
Per our trip program, today we are driving through the picturesque Alichur valley and over the Khargush pass of 4344 meters or 14,335 feet. The Pamir mountains are on our right the Hindu Kush is on our left or parts of Pakistan. Probably as close as I'll ever be. Then as we cross some check points, we will start driving along the Afghanistan border. We are trying to follow on the maps they gave to all of us at the start. Sometimes we are so lost as to where we are and the countryside doesn’t really help much. It’s beautiful and wind swept and sometimes snowy higher up but bleak and brown and monotonous at times as well.
Being confused seems to be part of the MO of this trip
. This morning they said that breakfast would be at 9 a.m. We were all present and accounted for by 9 a.m. but no breakfast. and obviously she was working on getting it ready but the table wasn’t even set. Turns out that the time changed when we got in Tajikistan but sometimes the border towns tend to stay with Kyrgyzstan time so we just hadn’t been informed that our time now was changed. Looks like our guesthouse had changed time. So we had an hour to kill which a good many of the group just went for a walk. Then at what was 10 to us but only 9 a.m. here, breakfast was ready and good.
After breakfast we went to the House of Yak which Jamshed told me would have a yak herd and told the rest of us also that they mostly sold yak products. We were going to the market first but they called and said they were open and waiting for us so we went there first. It wasn’t far but it also wasn’t very big. There were a few things hanging on the walls which were nice but as we asked about them, they were all sheep wool. The proprietor only had a very few items actually made from yak wool so not sure why they were called House of Yak. Some of us bought things but I couldn’t find anything worthwhile that was from yak so just got a couple of yak shaped ornaments. Walking Aussie did buy a sheep rug and Wales bought a lovely wall hanging and Canada bought some phone thingy but only London and I got the ornaments
When I then asked where the yaks were, Jams told me out in the pastures and not here at all
. How very odd. I guess he doesn’t understand our questions and just answers what he thinks we want to hear or what he thinks has been asked. Often he is wrong.
I am still in the back seat of Anatoly’s car today so I can stretch out my feet but the diesel smell if pretty much gone. Male Aussie couple is in the front seat and taking photos about once every 20 seconds or so. Very avid and if not a photo then a video.
Next we go to the Murgab market which seems to be a bunch of old containers from trucks and ships that have been put into place and turned into small shops selling candies, breads, other kinds of goods and such. The yurt close to the entrance is a meat selling place. A couple of men on the outside ask me to go in and take a photo of one of the men selling meat. They seem to think this is tremendously funny. The man was selling goat meat and never saw me take the photo so not sure why it was so funny to them but I got a photo.
There are a good many kids there and I got a lot of photos of them. Mauritius is quite good at getting people to pose for photos for her so I watch her a lot to see where she is going to ask people
. Wish I’d thought to bring my polaroid camera this trip.
Now we have a very long drive today. Oh, what a surprise. We do see a yak herd in the distance. Anatoly stops on the road for us be we are too far away for photos. Slava drives his van right down to the herd so we follow. New York has never seen a yak so she asks me how close she can go to get photos and I suggest until they put their head up and notice her. She is sneaking up quite close and they aren’t paying attention so I became alarmed and told her she was close enough as yaks are quite large animals.
We stopped for lunch at a small "roadside" café which was also a homestay of sorts. As I was waiting for the toilet, a bearded vulture flew over us. They are quite rare. Wales works for the British royal society of birds so he knew what it was and was quite excited by it.
After lunch, we reached one of the check points. They are frequent along this road and most of the time they just want to see the paperwork of Slava and Anatoly since they are driving vehicles with Kyrgyzstani plates on them. They always ask for bribes and I don’t think Peregrine gave them a bribe budget so Slava must argue with them about the bribe
. This time, since no bribe was coming, we all had to go in individually and show our passports where the man wrote down our names, passport numbers, visa numbers and date of birth and that we were going from Osh to Dushanbe. The guard with his Uzi machine gun was quite friendly though and waved goodbye to us as we left to start climbing up another mountain road.
The road wasn’t quite as bad as some before. We stopped at a couple of lakes, one of which was very clear and quite small and supposedly has tiny white fish living in it but not one of us saw a fish, just some algae in there.
We are now driving along the Afghanistan border on the other side of the river and for miles there are snowcapped peaks in the distance and then another check point but no checks for us this time.
It’s pretty much just mile after mile of the same lovely mountains, rushing waters, yaks, once a couple of rabbits, cows, shadows and clouds. We had to stop once for a leaky front tire on Anatoly’s van and he had to put a couple of patches in it. New York had never seen that either so I had to explain it to her how it worked and that the tire should be fine after the patch
.
It finally gets dark and it reminds me a lot of the Nepal to Lhasa road in Tibet. But we finally get to our guesthouse which has a flush toilet – oh joy – no seat but the toilet does flush and there is a sort of shower there as well if you want to stand in a wide bucket. This is for all of us.
We have a dinner of soup and a plate of potatoes with veggies and lamb. Good food but I am too full so just eat a bit. There are kittens here but one of them poops on the floor and one poops on Slava’s bed so they are not being let in again. We shower and then to bed.
Per our trip program, today we are driving through the picturesque Alichur valley and over the Khargush pass of 4344 meters or 14,335 feet. The Pamir mountains are on our right the Hindu Kush is on our left or parts of Pakistan. Probably as close as I'll ever be. Then as we cross some check points, we will start driving along the Afghanistan border. We are trying to follow on the maps they gave to all of us at the start. Sometimes we are so lost as to where we are and the countryside doesn’t really help much. It’s beautiful and wind swept and sometimes snowy higher up but bleak and brown and monotonous at times as well.
Being confused seems to be part of the MO of this trip
. This morning they said that breakfast would be at 9 a.m. We were all present and accounted for by 9 a.m. but no breakfast. and obviously she was working on getting it ready but the table wasn’t even set. Turns out that the time changed when we got in Tajikistan but sometimes the border towns tend to stay with Kyrgyzstan time so we just hadn’t been informed that our time now was changed. Looks like our guesthouse had changed time. So we had an hour to kill which a good many of the group just went for a walk. Then at what was 10 to us but only 9 a.m. here, breakfast was ready and good.
After breakfast we went to the House of Yak which Jamshed told me would have a yak herd and told the rest of us also that they mostly sold yak products. We were going to the market first but they called and said they were open and waiting for us so we went there first. It wasn’t far but it also wasn’t very big. There were a few things hanging on the walls which were nice but as we asked about them, they were all sheep wool. The proprietor only had a very few items actually made from yak wool so not sure why they were called House of Yak. Some of us bought things but I couldn’t find anything worthwhile that was from yak so just got a couple of yak shaped ornaments. Walking Aussie did buy a sheep rug and Wales bought a lovely wall hanging and Canada bought some phone thingy but only London and I got the ornaments
When I then asked where the yaks were, Jams told me out in the pastures and not here at all
. How very odd. I guess he doesn’t understand our questions and just answers what he thinks we want to hear or what he thinks has been asked. Often he is wrong.
I am still in the back seat of Anatoly’s car today so I can stretch out my feet but the diesel smell if pretty much gone. Male Aussie couple is in the front seat and taking photos about once every 20 seconds or so. Very avid and if not a photo then a video.
Next we go to the Murgab market which seems to be a bunch of old containers from trucks and ships that have been put into place and turned into small shops selling candies, breads, other kinds of goods and such. The yurt close to the entrance is a meat selling place. A couple of men on the outside ask me to go in and take a photo of one of the men selling meat. They seem to think this is tremendously funny. The man was selling goat meat and never saw me take the photo so not sure why it was so funny to them but I got a photo.
There are a good many kids there and I got a lot of photos of them. Mauritius is quite good at getting people to pose for photos for her so I watch her a lot to see where she is going to ask people
. Wish I’d thought to bring my polaroid camera this trip.
Now we have a very long drive today. Oh, what a surprise. We do see a yak herd in the distance. Anatoly stops on the road for us be we are too far away for photos. Slava drives his van right down to the herd so we follow. New York has never seen a yak so she asks me how close she can go to get photos and I suggest until they put their head up and notice her. She is sneaking up quite close and they aren’t paying attention so I became alarmed and told her she was close enough as yaks are quite large animals.
We stopped for lunch at a small "roadside" café which was also a homestay of sorts. As I was waiting for the toilet, a bearded vulture flew over us. They are quite rare. Wales works for the British royal society of birds so he knew what it was and was quite excited by it.
After lunch, we reached one of the check points. They are frequent along this road and most of the time they just want to see the paperwork of Slava and Anatoly since they are driving vehicles with Kyrgyzstani plates on them. They always ask for bribes and I don’t think Peregrine gave them a bribe budget so Slava must argue with them about the bribe
. This time, since no bribe was coming, we all had to go in individually and show our passports where the man wrote down our names, passport numbers, visa numbers and date of birth and that we were going from Osh to Dushanbe. The guard with his Uzi machine gun was quite friendly though and waved goodbye to us as we left to start climbing up another mountain road.
The road wasn’t quite as bad as some before. We stopped at a couple of lakes, one of which was very clear and quite small and supposedly has tiny white fish living in it but not one of us saw a fish, just some algae in there.
We are now driving along the Afghanistan border on the other side of the river and for miles there are snowcapped peaks in the distance and then another check point but no checks for us this time.
It’s pretty much just mile after mile of the same lovely mountains, rushing waters, yaks, once a couple of rabbits, cows, shadows and clouds. We had to stop once for a leaky front tire on Anatoly’s van and he had to put a couple of patches in it. New York had never seen that either so I had to explain it to her how it worked and that the tire should be fine after the patch
.
It finally gets dark and it reminds me a lot of the Nepal to Lhasa road in Tibet. But we finally get to our guesthouse which has a flush toilet – oh joy – no seat but the toilet does flush and there is a sort of shower there as well if you want to stand in a wide bucket. This is for all of us.
We have a dinner of soup and a plate of potatoes with veggies and lamb. Good food but I am too full so just eat a bit. There are kittens here but one of them poops on the floor and one poops on Slava’s bed so they are not being let in again. We shower and then to bed.
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